Methods and apparatus for determining bone density and diagnosing osteoporosis are known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,781. The methods and apparatus described therein, however, only enable diagnosis of this condition once it is well established and significant loss in bone density has occurred; they do not allow the identification of individuals who are predisposed or have an increased susceptibility to osteoporosis.
Hormone replacement therapy is an established treatment for osteoporosis and has proved successful in halting further decline in bone density that is characteristic in women suffering from this disease. Hormone replacement therapy is generally not, however, able to bring about a reversal of osteoporosis; that is, it is not capable of inducing an increase in the bone density of sufferers.
While osteoporosis is well-known as a condition affecting postmenopausal women, significant numbers of men are also affected by the disease. Each year approximately one third of hip fractures occur in men. Treatments for osteoporosis in men are available but tend only to delay or stop further bone density loss.
It would, accordingly, be of particular advantage to be able to identify with increased accuracy those individuals having a predisposition or increased susceptibility to osteoporosis. Suitable therapy could then be put into place before the effects of osteoporosis set in.